To My Beloved
by Seth the Inu
Summary: Sonic was not expecting to be thrust into this situation when Rouge ran to his house, desiring his help to gain Amy's attention.


**To My Beloved**

_Falling. That's all his mind could register as the deep waters of the sea filled his mouth, choking him, welcoming the warm body into its dark embrace, pulling him further and further away from the sky. He was fading, his mind blanking as he gave up completely, eagerly accepting the release, the new freedom, from life that the waters generously offered up to him._

.*.*.*.*.*.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"Urgh..." With a tired groan, Sonic pulled his covers over his head, burrowing his face into the softness of the pillow as an attempt to block out the intruding noise and return to the deep confines of sleep. Though usually an early riser on any average day, there were times the blue hedgehog just wished to linger in his bed for longer, undisturbed in his slumber as dark, thick curtains blocked out any unnecessary light. Fortunately for him, this was one of those such mornings.

Unfortunately for him, someone didn't realise this little fact.

With the constant hammering on his front door and no indication of it stopping any time soon, Sonic realised that he couldn't do anything except humour the one outside. Muttering under his breath words that, if heard, people would not believe could come from the hero, he kicked his covers off, sock-clad feet pushing the materials to the end of the bed (and a few even off from the force) before shoving himself off the mattress. With a wide yawn and a peach hand scratching bed-tousled cobalt fur, Sonic made his way to the poor abused door, opening to reveal a frantically worried looking Rouge, who stared at him with a quick expression of amused shock.

"Woah. Nice bed-head, big blue."

He moaned at the meaning, not in the mood for her games this early on. "Shut it Rouge," he growled partially, rubbing one eye tiredly as an attempt to help wake up enough to deal with the situation. "What do you want?"

The albino bat's expression turned wary, blue-green eyes darting to the side as she twiddled pristine-gloved fingers with each other. "I really, really need your help Sonic."

"Oh yeah. What with?"

A natural sprinkling of scarlet brushed her cheeks as Rouge lowered her voice, somewhat embarrassed to be admitting her words out loud to another person. "Gaining Amy's attention." She knew of their sibling-type relationship that had been established between the two hedgehogs after Sonic had finally managed to convince Amy that they could never be nothing more, or in any way anything, romantically. The pink mobian eventually saw the truth for what it was, and, though dejected at first, relented her actions and accepted things as the way they were, beginning to enjoy the new family-type relationship shared.

Emerald eyes wide, head tilted to the right slightly, Sonic stared at his guest curiously, mulling the idea over in his head. "Alright then. Why consider me? Don't you have Shadow to help you?"

Muffled giggles came as an answer as the female held a hand to her mouth, attempting to stop the sound escaping. "Not to be rude to the dear, but I really don't see Shadow as much of a romantic to help me with this."

"Heh, no, probably not when you say it like that." Releasing a deep sigh, the azure hero shrugged his shoulders in defeat as he casually leant against the doorframe, one leg crossed over the other. "Alright then, alright. I'll help you with this. Besides, you are one of my friends, and it wouldn't be right if I said 'no'."

Ignoring the unusual squeal of delight from the female in front of him, he pushed himself off the doorframe, making his way to step out the door, only to be abruptly stopped by a simple raised hand.

"Hun, as much as I _love _the ruffled look sported on you, I think that you may just want to fix yourself up before going anywhere," Rouge pointed out, trying not to snigger at his predicament.

With a quick glance of green eyes downwards, Sonic's cheeks flushed as he remembered his state of appearance, sprinting into the safety of his house as rich laughter followed after. "Ah! _Rouge!_"

.*.*.*.*.*.

Later that day, after much planning of considered ideas between the two mobians, the blue hero had called Amy up, arranging for a simple dinner between the two of the hedgehogs at a local restaurant.

"It's been a while since we've just had a get-together and talked without the fate of the planet on our backs," was the false claim Sonic gave, listening as Amy bought the made-up explanation. And with the preparations made and agreed upon, the conniving hedgehog signalled to the white female sitting in his room with him that the plans were a go, causing her to relax in gratefulness.

For what Amy didn't know was how Sonic didn't intend on showing, making Rouge take his place for the 'date'.

( _Sonic held the phone wedged between his ear and shoulder, hands busy drying freshly washed dishes. "How'd the dinner go?"_

_"She was worried, thinking something bad had happened to you after I showed up and told her that you had cancelled. Other than that, nothing happened. I just froze."_

_"Hmm. Let's try something else._ )

.*.*.*.*.*.

A single-folded white note was discreetly slipped under the highly decorated front door of Amy Rose's house, filled with the thoughts and feelings of Rouge the Bat towards the cherry-coloured hedgehog.

( _Both Sonic and Rouge observed Amy from the safety of behind a bush on the path opposite the younger female's house, noticing her shy yet happy smile as light green eyes glanced up and down the street, note held delicately between her fingers._

_"She looks happy."_

_"I didn't sign it."_

_"That's goo- wait, what?"_

_"To her it's probably anonymous."_

_"__**Why**__?"_

_Rouge just blushed._ )

.*.*.*.*.*.

With music pouring out of the open window's of the pink mobian's house, radio set to a commonly listened-to channel, Amy practically danced around her lounge, preparing for herself to leave for the day.

"Alright, alright, folks! All you wonderful listeners out there! We've got a treat in store for you - a special song that is dedicated to one Am-"

CLICK.

With an easy twist of one single dial, she cut off the announcer's enthusiastic voice, paying no attention to what was being said and not thinking it over as she jovially departed the building for a day filled of whatever she decided to do.

( _A look of pure murder on his face, Sonic seemed ready to strangle someone, while beside him Rouge released a long disappointed moan, head held in her hands and shaking slowly left and right._

_"I swear, you two are harder to get together than Mephiles and Silver were."_

_"Hey! I resent that!"_

_"What, the truth?"_

_"..." _)

.*.*.*.*.*.

Having finally grown tired of watching the ivory bat fail in all attempts at gaining her desired one's attention, Sonic decided it best to go at it with a full-frontal attack.

"Please Sonic, _please_. I really don't think that this is the best idea," Rouge begged, fingers clenched tightly around the stems of the multicoloured rose bunch held between hands, heeled boots attempting to dig into the ground to stop her progressive approach.

The male hedgehog, however, didn't listen to her complaining as he continued to push the reluctant body forward up to the door. "Well, nothing else is working, and I'm starting to get annoyed watching everything just fall down the drain, so to speak. Sooo..." With a drawled word that _clearly _didn't speak of mischief, a hurried knocking on the wooden door, and one last heavy forward shove to the female, Sonic turned and ran to find a decent spot to hide and observe carefully without notice. "...we'll see if this idea pans out. If not, then you're on your own, bat girl."

The blue blur sniggered under his breath from the sharp intake of air from Rouge behind him in preparation of a rebuttal, diving inconspicuously behind a safe corner, jade eyes peeking out to watch. Unable to hear from the distance he had put between Amy's house and himself, Sonic could only stare and interpret the best he could as he noticed how the albino mobian spoke almost nervously to the occupant of the house that answered the door, bouquet held out in front. He watched as Amy shyly accepted the token, taking a deep sniff of the romantic flowers, before inviting the largely-smiling Rouge into the house's interior, door being shut behind the both of them, effectively cutting off anything else from view of what could be happening.

The longer that green eyes stared at the closed door, the easier his grin morphed into a frown, a depressed expression creeping into Sonic's eyes. At seeing the couple happy just by being together caused a pang of loneliness to resonate through his heart. Sure, he had many friends surrounding him, but they just didn't fill that empty space inside. It left him... _incomplete_.

'_No!_' the azure hedgehog admonished to himself. '_I can't be thinking like this again. Not again._' An idea formed in his mind, like a switch being flipped, as he smacked a fist into his opened palm. '_I know! I'll follow Rouge's example. I'll face something of mine that's terrifying._' And so, with a self-directed nod that caused his sharp quills to bounce from the force of the motion, Sonic turned and ran to the closest dock, eager to reach the destination before the idea - and confidence - left him, everything becoming one giant blank blur around him.

Which is how Sonic found himself standing at the at most edge of the sturdy pier, green eyes staring down into the dark, moving waters directly under the wood. '_You can do this, Sonic. You can do this._'

Inhaling, the blue blur closed his eyes as he stepped forward onto nothing but air, feeling his body tumble forward, falling head-first into the cold sea, so sound being made except for the crashing of waves as he entered. The liquid dragged his body down fast, almost pulling him to the bottom without a chance of surfacing, caressing his silk-furred body almost lovingly, forcing itself into his mouth as he ran out of air.

It was then that Sonic realised that, instead of facing his great terror of water and conquering it, he was in fact _drowning_. But he was frozen, limbs stiff from the cold and fear, too past the point of caring except to allow the sea to do what it wished with him, partially opened dull jade eyes staring blankly at nothing. '_I never even got the chance to tell them..._'

In front of one of his greatest enemies, Sonic the Hedgehog gave up and surrendered.

A disturbance from above the sinking hedgehog was felt, piquing his mild curiosity, before a white-gloved hand firmly grabbed his upper arm, stopping Sonic's descent from continuing any further than it had. It yanked upwards, aiming towards the surface above the sea. A splash was heard next to him of someone pulling themselves out of the bitter water, then another hand grasping the cobalt hedgehog, hauling him out a well.

Violent hacking coughs racked Sonic's body as he lay motionlessly against the wood of the wharf, forcing all liquid out of his lungs to breathe properly.

"What the _hell_ do you think you were doing?"

Without moving his head, Sonic glanced up at his rescuer, meeting the heated crimson gaze of Shadow, fisted hands shaking at his sides as an enraged frown marked his face. Listless emerald eyes looked away as an answer to the possibly rhetorical question was given in a flat monotone voice. "Swimming."

Hearing a growl from his darker counterpart, the hero was not prepared for the sudden tight hug he was pulled into as Shadow knelt down to his level. "God, don't you _dare_ ever do that _again!_ You worried me for a moment there, thinking I had actually lost you."

Feeling guilty at those words, the younger wet hedgehog furtively attempted to push himself away from Shadow, but with no great success - his trip in the water had left him weak, almost helpless. The arms around his body loosened their grip somewhat around Sonic, yet before he could do anything, a pair of lips were placed over his own. A hand came up to cup Sonic's peach cheek as Shadow poured all his love and relief into the simple kiss, making it more than it was. The warmth behind it unfroze the blue mobian from his shock at the action, leaning into the intimate action and returning the kiss, tears dripping down his cheeks from the regret of what it was he was going to do before, disappointed with himself.

Sonic was the first to pull away, needing air as he had still not quite recovered from his death escapade, resting his head against the ebony hedgehog's shoulder, continuing to cry from everything. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. So, so sorry. I just, please. I'm sorry."

"Shh," Shadow hushed the distraught mobian, nudging Sonic's head up with his muzzle to rest their foreheads together as red stared into teary green. With a quick peck against quivering lips, Shadow cradled the other's face, thumbs gently brushing away the staining tracks of tears. "Hush, you beautiful, wonderful hedgehog."

Releasing one final, shuddering breath, the blue hero relaxed into the comforting hold, curling his body closer to that of Shadow's own, gloved hands clinging to red-streaked black fur in self reassurance that it was real. A hand moved along the cobalt back, rubbing tender circles to further comfort Sonic as they both sat in their entangled position on the pier, waiting for the younger hedgehog to gain his breath back.

Lips pressed to the side of Sonic's head, Shadow asked, "Better now?"

"Mmhm," he nodded, blue quills swaying slightly.

"Good."

No warning given, the raven-coloured mobian stood, with his arms supporting Sonic, having been quickly shifted into a bridal-style position, as the Lifeform began to make his way of the docking and down the street.

"Hey, hey! I _can_ walk, you know."

"I know."

When there was no sign of Shadow releasing his hold over the blue hedgehog, or even stopping in his tracks, skin-toned arms crossed over Sonic's chest, a huff escaping passed his lips. Yet, despite his visual reluctance at being carried, Sonic rested his head back against a black shoulder, eyelids sliding shut from contentment.

"I hate you," he said without the real emotion behind it, almost in exasperated fondness.

"I know, faker," Shadow responded, smiling ever faintly as he leant his head slightly against the top of his partner's own as he kept moving forward. "I know."

_I love you too_.

.*.*.*.*.*.

_Wow. I actually ended up writing about a female pairing - something I thought I would never end up doing. Admittedly yes, the whole story isn't based on them, but it's a start hehe. Rouge is usually seen as a woman that will just go out there, but I figured that we all have our reservations when it comes to going after the one person that we really like, and even need help now and then. So yes, slightly OOC for her, but we all have our moments of need. And who better than Sonic to help her?_

_Just a reminder of the competition that is going. I need an outfit design for Shadow based loosely on the outfit of Clopin from the film '__**The Hunchback of Notre Dame**__'. It cannot be the exact same - i.e. colour scheme - but something similar that would match Shadow. It can be however you want it to look - style, accessories, colour. All entries will be very much appreciated. Just send me a private note and a link of your entry by the end of 30 September, and that's all. The outfit chosen will be used in my up-coming story '__**The Ringer of Bells**__', as well as a one-shot of your choice as a prize._


End file.
